RESUMEN
Objective To assess the brain development of newborns with cardiac septal defects by MRI.Methods The brain MR images of 150 newborns with cardiac septal defects and 50 normal newborns were analyzed retrospectively.We evaluated the brain development by measuring the four indices of lateral ventricle:anterior horn index (F/F'),body index (D/D'),caudate nucleus index (C/C')and Evans index.Independent samples t test was used to compare the differences between the two groups,and the possible positive diagnostic cut-off points were calculated by using the nonparametric ROC analysis.Results There were no significant differences between the congenital heart disease group and the control group in the two indices:F/F'[(0.301±0.035)vs (0.296±0.031);t=1.035,P>0.05]and Evans index [(0.239±0.052)vs (0.233±0.025);t=0.778,P>0.05].The values of D/D'[(0.261±0.039)vs (0.234±0.032);t=3.873,P<0.05)] and C/C'[(0.138±0.018)vs (0.124±0.015);t=4.479,P<0.05]were significantly higher in the congenital heart disease group than in the control group.In the congenial heart disease group,the area under the ROC curve obtained by D/D'and C/C'were 0.698 and 0.750,respectively.The maximum Yuedeng index corresponding to the D/D'value and the C/C'value were 0.28 and 0.12,respectively. Conclusion The body index(D/D')and the caudate nucleus index(C/C')are sensitive to evaluate the differences of the brain volume between the newborns with cardiac septal defects and the normal newborns.It is helpful to find the abnormal brain volume when the value of D/D'is greater than 0.28 and the value of C/C'is greater than 0.12.